Main Street work begins, causes chaos for local businesses

Shoppers enter a store in the Winooski Circle. Photo by Catherine Morrissey

Dhanbbahadur Dhetri received a notice of construction at his Winooski restaurant after the crews began working steps away from his front door on Main Street.

“Construction activities are expected to impact your property in the coming week,” read the warning. “We suggest finding alternate locations for parking if you need to leave your home.”

Both employees and customers park along the curb in front of Mountain Valley, which occupies a former small house at 212 Main St. and has just a handful of tables. After just three days of construction, the dust, noise and disuption cut into customer traffic, said Dhetri, who has owned Mountain Valley for more than two years.

He changed the Nepalese restaurant’s hours of operation because of slow business, he said. That has reduced pay for his workers, including himself. “We have employees working under us. They have to get paid,” Dehtri said. If he shuts down temporarily, workers will get jobs elsewhere, he added. “Then I close forever.”

The city’s long-delayed Main Street Revitalization project began last month. Crews for Kubricky-Jointa Lime, the project’s contractor, began working their way from the southern end of Main Street above the Winooski Rotary to north near the Interstate 89 interchange. Crews are tearing through the concrete closing sidewalks as the project advances and, as a result, creating upheaval for adjacent businesses. The project also has detoured southern-traveling traffic onto Weaver Street, running parallel through the residential part of the city.

The construction will reconfigure Main Street to add crosswalks and bike lanes, expand sidewalks, upgrade traffic signals and improve lighting and landscaping. Work is expected to continue for two years, with breaks for weather.

City officials said it’s all going as planned. “The temporary traffic control and detouring are operating relatively efficiently,” said Jon Raucsher, Winooski’s public works director. “The project team has also been in constant contact with our public outreach team to address any resident concerns and questions.”

Melissa Corbin, executive director of Downtown Winooski, an economic development organization that represents city businesses, said Main Street proprietors have expressed concerns about diminished traffic. “The conversations I have been having with business owners is that they are already seeing an impact in sales,” Corbin said. “It is essential that we band together as a community at this critical time to preserve our downtown economic vitality.”

Those owners need any support available, said Corbin, who emphasized the message: “We are open for business.”

Across from Dehtri’s restaurant, Wicked Wings also has lost its street parking for customers. The restaurant now opens later than its previous 11 a.m. start and stopped offering lunch service three to four days a week, said Maggie Haven, a Wicked Wings bartender

For these businesses, it’s not only the physical detours and lack of parking that are deterring customers, business owners said. Large, loud trucks and machines are dismantling parts of the street and sidewalk to install new sewage pipes and manholes. For restaurant patrons, the dirt and noise can disturb a meal. Wicked Wings has held off opening its outdoor seating area, as it usually would along Main Street at this time of year. “Everything is so dusty and dirty,” Haven said. “We’re not sure if we’re going to finish up the patio.”